


Already Gone

by lnekkas



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast), The Adventure Zone: Amnesty (Podcast)
Genre: Less than 1000 words, M/M, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-05
Updated: 2019-03-05
Packaged: 2019-11-12 01:21:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18001094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lnekkas/pseuds/lnekkas
Summary: Ned and Boyd take a drive. There’s a long road ahead of them.





	Already Gone

Ned guides the Lincoln through a rocky pass. He’s sick of driving, but Boyd’s officially off driver duty. After driving on the wrong side of the road for the second time in a day, Ned had taken the wheel from him. Boyd is going to get them in an accident one of these days.

He’s got one hand on the wheel, another on a cold bottleneck Boyd has sitting in the cup holder. They’ve got the windows rolled down and some tunes playing. Out of the dashboard window, they watch the orange sun sink lazily through the amber sky toward the mountains. The whole scene looks like it’s been dipped in marmalade. It’s a hot summer day – late afternoon. They’ve got a room booked 100 miles down the dusty road.

Ned steals sips of Boyd’s drink and glimpses of his severe profile. Boyd’s got one of those faces. Sharp, like it was carved out of marble. Handsome.

Until recently – about a week ago, actually – Ned and Boyd had enjoyed a fairly normal partnership – breaking and entering, leaving with significantly more in their pockets than they’d had before, hauling ass in the Lincoln, and retreating to a seedy motel – and it had been good. It had been mostly good. Really, Ned’s chief complaint would have been the complete lack of sex. That generally tended to be the best part of Ned’s most interesting partnerships, criminal or otherwise… well, they’d fixed that a few days ago.

That normal partnership had suddenly veered into sexual, undefined, but still currently friendly territory. Which, yeah, Ned would typically count as a win because of the aforementioned marble-chiseled face and also body. But things felt different – and not just compared to the supposedly platonic relationship they’d had a week ago. It felt _different_ , like, in general. Ned’s last relationship had lasted ten days, from first glances to last words, and _that_ was normal. Not a steady one with a friend – a smart, strong, generally admirable friend.

Maybe that was okay. Maybe it just felt weird to _have_ a friend at all. Like, someone Ned actually cared about and liked and respected all at the same time. That was weird enough. Maybe, as long as Ned kept an eye on it, it would follow that usual, well-walked route – lots of crime, lots of fun, lots of sex, and then a hasty separation. Maybe this could still be business as usual.

And, God, doesn’t that leave a pit in Ned’s stomach.

The song on the stereo transitions into the next one. Boyd nods his head along with the beat of it.

Nothing has ever worked out for Ned. From his piece of shit childhood to his piece of shit adult life, Ned has always waited for the other shoe to drop, and without fail, it always has. Actually, that’s the only thing he’s ever been able to count on – things getting fucked up. So, along the road, he’s learned a valuable lesson: don’t count on anything or anyone, except for your own shitty luck.

Nothing has ever worked out for Ned. So why should this?

It’s exhilarating, being near Boyd. Ned has never felt such kinship, such complete harmony with another human being. It was terrifying to realize just how much power Boyd holds over him. For once in his life, Ned has given someone the power to break his heart. For once, Ned has broken his own golden rule.

Sometimes, Ned wonders if he deserves something that feels this good, both physically and spiritually. He knows the answer.

Sometimes, Ned wonders if he’ll be punished for the things he’s done. Is Boyd that punishment? What will happen to Ned when this particular shoe drops? Does Ned deserve _that_? He isn’t totally sure one way or the other.

“Watcha thinkin’ bout?” Boyd startles Ned out of his thoughts. He slaps Ned’s hand away from the bottle in the cup holder and takes a swig for himself.

Ned keeps his eyes on the road. He looks at the valley the Lincoln steadily approaches. He watches the sun continue its sluggish descent closer to the horizon.

“Tomorrow,” he answers, and keeps flying down the highway toward their next adventure.


End file.
